Introduce yourself..
My name’s Nathan Horrocks, I am a former Jockey and now Visual Director for Equine Productions. I spend a lot of time traveling with work and enjoy meeting new people.
I have a great outlook on life and try to help each and everyone I meet.
In my ‘spare time’, I enjoy watching films, snowboarding, going to gigs and riding out on the gallops in Lambourn for Grand National winning trainer Oliver Sherwood.
Tell us about your education and career so far…
Raised in Africa till I was 6 I moved to Middleham, a successful horse racing town in North Yorkshire.
My father, a former flat jockey, would often offer the opportunity for me to join him at evening stables and engage me in the racing world. Unfortunately I was completely disengaged in horses and school.
With no interest in racing growing up and my attention being taken over by skating and other counter culture sports, the racing industry wasn’t attractive to me until it was time to get a job.
After being in racing for a year, I moved to trainer Chris Thornton at Spigot Lodge and he sent me to the British Racing School. I did a 9 week course (course 63) back in 1994! Not long after this I had my first ride as jockey.
After ten years as a national hunt jockey and work rider for Mark Johnston, I found myself constantly frustrated with the undervalued visual output of our sport, in comparison to other extreme sports. I had aspirations to engage those familiar, and unfamiliar with the equestrian world, through the use of film.
In 2012, I met Sam Fleet and Dave James who shared these values and the EP adventure began. My vision is to reach out beyond the core audience, and portray the sport in a fresh light, inspiring those new to horse world.
My goal is combine my two passions – film and horses – and my job is to bring credibility, authenticity and a wealth of industry knowledge to the creative process at EP
Why did you choose the BRS?
In 1993 I was employed by Chris Thornton, he was a great believer in giving young people chances to grow and improve. He was also on the board at BRS and thought it would be a great opportunity for me to spend time at BRS to gain my NVQ.
Did you have any racing experience prior to attending the BRS?
As my father was a former jockey I did spend some time around horses, but wasn’t till I got my first job at George Moors learning to work with thoroughbreds that I truly found my love of the sport. I also at the time had an amazing mentor in Nick Bentley who taught me to ride and life skills. Nick is now a successful Jockey Coach and is now passing on that wisdom to future athletes.
What has been the highlight/greatest memory from working in racing?
In 2015 we launched JockeyCam for the first time for Channel 4 Racing at the Grand National where the camera got some amazing footage from Aiden Coleman being stuck under a fence while horses where still jumping the fence and we also had the camera on the winner Many Clouds; a horse I rode at home on a regular basis and was huge part in the JockeyCam development.
Another highlight that included Many Clouds was a documentary we created telling the story of his life. Not only did the film receive great acclaim, it also won our team the best International Director at the Equus Film Awards in New York. A very emotional day and also made me feel incredibly proud of our team.
What are your plans & aspirations for the future?
Our future plans are to grow Equine Productions and JockeyCam which is a camera we developed in 2015 and used regularly on ITV Racing and NBC Sports. We would like the device to be used in other parts of the horse racing world and also have it adapted to other sports.